Tony Rodriguez

Antonio-Anthony Rodriguez a.k.a. ""Tony" (born June 30, 1949 East New York, Brooklyn-June 30 1999 New York City, New York) is a Lucchese crime family mob associate of Portuguese-Spanish descent. He was the brother-in-law of Angelo Sepe, who also was a suspect in the 1978 Lufthansa heist.

Biography

Anthony Rodriguez was born in New Hyde Park, New York. He would later move to Mattituck, New York where he shared a home with his younger biological sister's later ex-husband Angelo Sepe who she had divorced sometime in the early 1970s. He was named after Mark Anthony. It is thought that Anthony met his future wife, the sister of Colombo crime family mob associate Angelo Sepe during a street fight in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. As a juvenile delinquent he became a member of the powerful Puerto Rican street gang the Latin Kings in the late 1960s. The gang would regularly battle with the Avenue U Boys and The Rampers, which included mobsters such as Frank Lino and Sammy Gravano. He was the brother of one known sister, who he later became estranged from in the 1970s. He was the son of a Spanish immigrant named "Rodrigo Rodriguez" which literally means "father of Antonio" and named after the grandfather on his father's side Anthony Rodriguez Sr. Antonio's father was of Portuguese and Spanish descent. Little is mentioned of suspect Anthony Rodriguez in Nicholas Pileggi's book, "Wiseguy: My Life in The Mafia", "On the Run: A Mafia Childhood by Gregg and Gina Hill" and "Gangsters and Goodfellas: Wiseguys, Witness Protection, and Life on the Run" by Henry Hill and Gus Russo. This might lead to the conclusion that Anthony was not actually involved in the 1978 Lufthansa heist, or Hill did not know of Anthony's involvement because of his deep involvement in the basketball point shaving scheme at Boston College.

Association with the Colombo Crime Family

Anthony started his career in organized crime as a mob associate of the Colombo crime family. His suspected capo was the powerful and dangerous, Gregory Scarpa Senior or Ralph Spero. Antonio was affiliated with Scarpa Senior or Spero prior to his incarceration for assaulting an undercover police officer in 1974. It is assumed annonymously that Ralph Spero was the one to inform on Anthony's alleged involevement in the 1978 Lufthansa heist to the FBI along with Ralph's nephew, and his brother-in-law Angelo Sepe, Jimmy Burke through his association with the Colombo crime family and Burke's son, Frank James Burke.

Association with the Lucchese crime family

After Anthony's release from prison he aligned himself with the Lucchese crime family capo Paul Vario beginning in 1978 or 1979. Anthony could never become a full fledged mobster like Henry Hill or Joe Manri, the fellow Hispanic member of the Vario Crew, but did not suffer the racial discrimination as did African-American associate Parnell Edwards. He was very proud of, and looked up to his former brother-in-law Angelo Sepe as a role model, and admired him for his accomplishments and success in the Lucchese crime family. Like criminal accomplace Parnell Edwards, Anthony was part of the New York City underworld's caste system, one of the highly expendable "suckers"--- non-La Cosa Nostra employees who were routinely exploited by Jimmy Burke and Paul Vario. He was a quasi-wiseguy who got the "dirty work" and was packed off to jail with a false camaraderie and $300-a-month if he was lucky. Angelo was married to Anthony's biological sister pre-1978 for an unknown period of time. He was a mob associate of Tommy DeSimone, who he met through Angelo. Thomas would later introduce Tony and Angelo to Jimmy Burke in 1978 shortly before the Lufthansa heist. It was through Angelo's association with Jimmy and Thomas that they were introduced to Anthony. Thomas DeSimone convinced Jimmy and also allegedly to involve Anthony as a "stick up man" for the Lufthansa heist.

The Lufthansa Heist

Even though the FBI and NYPD combined there efforts they would never recover the money from the Lufthansa heist, the pursuit of the matter was relentless. Assistant United States Attorney Edward A. McDonald would later comment on the investigation, “"there was never any mystery about who robbed Lufthansa".” Thomas DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Frank James Burke, and Anthony Rodriquez were the four people the authorities focused on after their names were given up by a well placed informant in the Colombo crime family suspected of being capo Gregory Scarpa, although this information has never been released, within hours of the robbery. By the end of the investigation in 1980 the authorities could come up with no substantial proof that Rodriguez was actually involved in the heist.

Last Chance Efforts for Indictment

In January of 1978, Rodriquez was arrested with Angelo Sepe in Angelo’s Mattituck, New York home where the FBI recovered both narcotics and guns. Although due to a technicality regarding how the search warrant was conducted their lawyer Louis Delenhauser fought the case and won, getting them off free when he discovered that the search warrants were not properly executed. Angelo and Anthony Rodriguez both went free though when it was discovered that the search warrants were not properly executed by the FBI. Although Anthony surfaced several times during the initial investigation, Rodriquez was never considered a serious suspect. When police arrested Angelo Sepe and Anthony, they searched his Mattituck, New York home in hope of finding some of the Lufthansa loot. Instead, all they found was Jimmy Burke. It is odd that Rodriguez, although a suspect in the heist is not mentioned in other than a small paragraph which was about his relationship with Angelo. By himself, Rodriguez worked in extortion, arson, and car theft. Anthony's criminal record included the assault and battery of an undercover NYPD officer.

urviving the Aftermath of Lufthansa

His fellow criminal associates and Lufthansa heist stick-up men, Angelo, Robert McMahon, Joe Manri, and Thomas DeSimone would all meet their fates following the robbery. He was arrested shortly after for arson and grand theft auto. Anthony "Tony" Rodriguez is one of the few suspected stick-up men of the Lufthansa heist who successfully survived the aftermath of the robbery. Anthony's ex-brother-in-law unfortunately would not meet such luck. Angelo would be found murdered on July 18, 1984 in New Utrecht, Brooklyn with his girlfriend.

After his Mob Life

Anthony was the second last surviving suspect tied to the 1978 Lufthansa heist, the only two suspects to survive him were mob associate Henry Hill and the initial orchestrators of the heist, Louis Werner and Peter Gruenwald.

References

* "Wiseguy: A Life In A Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi
* "Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia" by Peter Maas
* "All about the Lufthansa Heist: Chapter 9: The Biggest Robbery Ever" by Allen May http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/gang/heist/9.html
* US Social Security Death Index